Snowed In
by snowcookies
Summary: The young Ewoks Wicket, Kneesaa, Teebo, Latara and Paploo are two snows older than at the start of the cartoon series. It's time for them to come out of age, experience their first major disappointments and learn how to think of others. The story bridges the cartoon series to the 2013 Shadows of Endor comic and the last scene will continue onto its first panel.
1. Chapter 1

First snow fell in the Happy Grove on the forest moon of Endor, in a galaxy far, far away. A thin layer of ice was forming on the Yarlubb River. Deep below the ancient conifer trees, an Ewok hunting party lead by Tippet and Wunka was tracing a large animal, likely a gurreck. Known for their strict beliefs, Ewoks would only hunt when there was no other food and in the times when eating supplies gathered throughout the summer would not be enough to warm them up.

"Do you think we'll find it?" asked Wunka, nervously scratching his friend's shoulders.

"Calm down, we need to be focused on the task, otherwise we will have to settle for small game and birds...and you know what that means, right?"

"Yes, hunting every other day, smoking the meat..."

"...and taking along a group of young ones, to teach them how to hunt and preserve what they caught. I hate that! They end up being more trouble than it's worth and no help at all!"

"Don't be so hard on them!" said the shortish Ewok named Romba, who had kept quiet until then, "Some ten, twenty snows ago we were like them - overconfident and guaranteed to cause trouble, or scared of our own shadows! There was no middle ground!"

"Chak, I remember the day Stemzee fell from a high branch, face straight into a pile of maramu droppings! That smelled worse than, I don't know, a female Dulok in heat?"

"Wait, are you saying you're familiar with that smell? Poor you!"

The whole group laughed.

On the other side of the forest, high above in their treetop home of Bright Tree Village, the young Ewoks, still free from most major responsibilities, had completely different things on their minds.

It was the day Wicket W. Warrick had dreamed of a lot, the one he was impatiently counting days to. Though his height and behaviour would make one think otherwise, this was the day he came out of age. No more questioning his decisions. No more telling him that he was too young. No more endless arguments with his parents over mundane chores and making up his own adventures solely for the sake of another trophy, another ticket for independence.

He was proud of the things he's done inbetween his birthdays - he saved his friends' lives multiple times, he had no problem finding a date for the Shadownight festival and, upon failing his first big warrior test, he overcame a personal crisis which almost made him give up on his dreams. He's even been to space with three of his closest friends and frequent partners in crime. It was an incredible year. And now he was determined to start an even greater one, surrounded by his loving family and friends whom he invited to a party. He planned his big night with attention to every single detail. He asked his parents to empty the largest chamber of their hut, so he could invite everybody old enough to wear a hood and young enough not to have woklings of their own waiting at home. He was exceptionally nice to his mother for a couple of moons, so she would make enough food for everybody. His older brothers agreed to play drums and he was hoping that he could, perhaps, get two of his female friends to sing and play the flute…

…and he was getting more and more excited as the night was falling down on the snow-covered huts.

"Mom!" he yelled to Shodu, who was busy arranging food on the large table, "How do I look? Did I grow since my last birthday?"

While Shodu was thinking of what to say, Weechee, who seemed busy pulling a new layer of leather over his big drum, interrupted them.

"Don't worry, little brother, you're about two fleebogs taller than you were a year ago!"

"Chak, but that would be two baby fleebogs!" added Widdle, the other brother.

"Sounds about the size of your brain!" snapped Wicket and went after them. But his father, who just got in from running some errands, grabbed him by the hood and then gave him a gentle pat on the back.

"You're bigger on the inside, my boy. Don't let these two get you down! As for you, Weechee and Willy, don't spoil Wicket's big day!"

"Of course, we would not even think of it." Weechee winked to his brother.

"It's Widdle, dad! I'm a scout now and I am a whole new Ewok, I got this mean red hood and I lost a few pounds! Don't call me Willy anymore!"

"That's right, and we're proud of you. And we're proud of Wicket, too. He has come so far since the days he played alone near the fire pit. Poor baby, no woklings were born that season and it took us some time to find him a playmate!"

"Yes, until Chirpa got over the initial shock after losing his wife and started leaving Kneesaa with us, it was pretty hard to get Wicket to sit still. And then there was that awful gang of Duloks who took away all of the children and nearly killed them..."

"I know, mom, I know, you told this story so many times – we were saved and we became friends with the slightly older boy who contributed to our rescue, and before he first came around to play with me, you had no idea he could speak. And his sister is such a precious, sweet child and you don't like how I treat her sometimes."

Shodu smiled broadly.

"All of that is true…and they're all right behind you!"

Two adolescent Ewoks and one slightly younger girl were standing behind Wicket. They quietly got in while he was complaining about his parents constantly telling the same stories, over and over.

"Kneesaa! Teebo! Malani! You're already here!"

"Goopa!" squeaked the little girl in an oversized blue hood with a star decoration, "happy birthday!" A much taller male Ewok with a pink feather on a baggy hat was behind her, holding something wrapped in a piece of cloth. She took it from him and handed it over to Wicket.

"Um, Malani and Teebo, thank you!"

Wicket went on to unwrap it. It looked like a toy, but it wasn't one. It was brightly coloured, but he could not even figure out what it was.

"What is this?"

"We made it together for you. I carved it and Malani painted it. Malani, would you please tell Wicket about it?"

"Sure! I don't know what this is, but I dreamed of it. It was too beautiful not to become real; it has a pair of wheels and a tail! I told my brother what to make and then I painted it to make it even more beautiful. I liked it so much that I decided to give it to you, because I love you!"

The older Warrick offspring rolled their eyes, as little Malani was standing there, lovestruck, describing her bizarre birthday gift, with so much enthusiasm. She then proceeded to run around the chamber, giggling. It was only then that Kneesaa, who was patiently waiting for the child to be done, came closer to Wicket, gave him a hug, kissed him on the cheek and presented him with a spear.

"This is from the three of us - my father, my sister and me. We thought you could use a new one, now that you're on your way to become a warrior! Asha said goopa, she could not make it, as she went to help Chukha-Trok with animal feeders for the snow season."

Wicket took the spear and played with it as if he were in the middle of a battle, yelling and jumping. Kneesaa waited for a bit, as if her friend had forgotten something, but eventually she shook her head, sighed and went to the table to pour herself a drink.

"Shodu, what are we drinking tonight?"

"Warm milk for those who have just come in from outside and, for when you've warmed up some dangleberry juice, some sunberry juice...the usual. Just go and help yourself, dear."

The next to arrive was Paploo. He shook his friend's hand to the point where it hurt and nudged him.

"Happy birthday, Wicket, you're an old man now! Haha! This is from mom and me."

Wicked opened yet another piece of cloth and looked at the item inside. It looked like a belt, but there was a wooden buckle in the middle, with the shape resembling the one of a munyip.

"Paploo, you said it was from your mom and you, are you sure of that?"

"Arandee, it's from mom. I forget all possible important occasions, so I did not know it was your birthday before she reminded me, I thought we were just going to hang out. And she thought that this munyip-shaped buckle would look good on one of her - I am repeating her words you know - favourite little angels…and I did what she said."

Everybody laughed. Wicket put the belt on, only to realise it's too wide. But Bozzie, who lost both her sister and her husband and had only her son to keep her company, meant well, ever since he saved her soul tree from a forest fire some snows ago.

"Tell your mom I love it and that I hope I'll be able to actually wear it someday, Paploo. She probably thought I was as big as you, for some reason. Either way, I've got the strangest gifts this year, it's got to mean something. Teebo?"

"Chak?"

"I have to thank you for not having written me a birthday poem or something like that. Malani managed to outweird you this time! It must be in the family!"

"I wouldn't say so; our parents are pretty regular folk. Maybe the stars were aligned in a particularly strange way when each of us born! Oh…k'vark! The stars!"

"What's wrong, Teebo?"

"I just remembered something. It's my turn to check the stars tonight! Master Logray is visiting the Tulgah traders with chief Chirpa and he expects me to do this! I have to run out for a bit! I cannot believe it, tonight out of all nights in the year…on my best friend's big birthday!"

"Come back after you're done, this party will go on for long enough. I'll tell Shodu to save a piece of cake for you, as I don't think Wicket will remember," said Kneesaa.

"Thanks, and put this somewhere...I didn't even manage to take a sip of it or snack on something."

Teebo left the glass in Kneesaa's hand and ran out into the night. She shrugged and left the glass on the table, solely to realise it was empty.

It's hard being the reliable one, she thought to herself. Her friends have always been so complicated compared to her. Paploo, her cousin, loved tall tales and would never think before jumping into danger. Wicket, whom she was fonder of than she would ever admit, has grown more confident, but he was still making more trouble than avoiding it. Teebo was withdrawn, somewhat awkward, but very polite. Snappy Latara has not written a song in ages, she became preoccupied with her possessions, but she recently discovered a new passion - hood making.

Unlike all of them, she was just...normal, though many would say she was wise beyond her years. She was not sure if it was so because of her responsibilities, or because she never had a proper family. Sometimes, she wished she could just snap at her friends for being so complicated, to tell Paploo to think before acts and make him realise how scared he actually is, deep within, to tame the burning desire for adventure in Wicket's heart, so there could be place for something else, to get Teebo and Latara together and see them hold hands and make plans for the future. There was a lot more, to the point she felt as if it was her duty to fix the whole of Endor.

**Footnotes**

Wunka would be the black Ewok that scratches Chewie in the AT-AT, so his tic is there for a reason.

I always thought Romba (the one who mourns his dead friend) as one of the cuddliest Ewoks in Return of the Jedi and I thought it would be fun if he was on the youngsters' side.

Tippet appears in a couple of a couple old Marvel comics, most notably Star Wars #94: Small Wars and since he seems sinister, I thought he'd be fun to have around neurotic Wunka and sweet Romba.

Wicket's birthday being in what would be the equivalent of December in our world - a Disney pin depicts him as a Sagittarius and that rings pretty true to me. I had some fun and made up star signs for the others.

In reference to Shodu's memories of Wicket's early days - Kneesaa and Asha's mother dies offscreen which is addressed in Asha, and yes, Duloks were originally eating woklings, as described in The Adventures of Teebo: A Tale of Magic and Suspense. These two links are essential in understanding the featured characters, too.

Fleebogs - buglike sentients from Ewoks 11: The Incredible Shrinking Princess

Shadownight festival - the event from Ewoks second season episode, The Raich

Munyips - cute little bat-squirrel like things from the cartoon series - somebody like Wicket would definitely not want a munyip ornament on his belt buckle.

Tulgah - an interesting species settled on Endor. All of its specimen are magical, but only Morag, the witch from the first season of the cartoon series was evil.

Chak - yes

Arandee - listen

K'vark - the Ewokese four-letter-word


	2. Chapter 2

The guests were arriving, bringing ordinary gifts, to Wicket's relief. He was happy that his party has been going on well so far. Finally, his brothers finished fixing the drums and started drumming. He asked Weechee's girlfriend, Chirita, for a dance. She was suspicious.

"I hope you aren't crushing on me anymore, kid. I could beat ya up, y'know?"

"Not by any means, it's just that somebody has to dance with you while my brother is playing music for us. I tried to drum once and it didn't go that well, I broke the drum!"

"You're a fierce little one, aren't you? Perhaps you will be an actual warrior someday, after all!" Chirita laughed.

Latara was making her way through the dancing crowd. She had to carry the braid-like extension of her hood in her hands, as Widdle stepped on it when she got in.

"Goopa, Wicket! Happy birthday!"

"Latara! You're always the last to arrive, but I'm glad you made it!"

"Chak, you know what my father is like…I couldn't get out before I scrubbed the floor, tucked Nippet and Wiley in their hammocks and, well, fixed myself a bath, brushed my fur and made sure I looked good enough to party! Here's your gift! It's a new bag!"

"Nice! But it has two straps?!"

"That's one of my ideas! That way you can carry it on your back, underneath your hood and nobody will know it's there. Clever, huh?"

Wicket was about to thank Latara, but she already joined the dancing guests, having first gulped down a large glass of sunberry juice. At first, she danced by herself, but after a couple of songs, she was next to Tak, wiggling. Of Weechee's age and known for his handsome fur, Tak was surprised. He could swear she just stroked him down his back. How strange. He looked around and noticed her dance to Flitchee, rubbing her back against him. And then another. And another. Then she went for another glass of juice.

Tak was confused and he went to find Kneesaa. She was standing by the table, looking at Wicket doing a handstand as his brothers were drumming.

"Goopa, Kneesaa! Nice party, don't you think?"

"Uh, chak. And it's nice you came, despite my sister not being here. I'd go crazy if I was engaged and had to be apart fr..."

"Arandee...your friend, the sassy girl, the musician, she seems to be on some kind of a courting spree, if there is such a thing!"

Tak pointed at Latara dancing with another random visitor. Kneesaa was surprised. She couldn't think of a way to get Latara out of the crowd in order to see what was going on. Then she noticed a blue hood peeking from under the table and she instantly had an idea.

"Malani? Is that you? Are you hiding?"

Malani gasped. She seemed to be enchanted by Wicket's antics, which she was enjoying from what she thought was the best seat in the house.

"No! I don't want to go home, don't tell my brother that I'm hiding here!"

"Don't worry, I'll make sure you can stay as long as you like. Go bring me Latara! Find a reason; tell her that you want to show her something!"

Malani jumped out of her hiding place and went to Latara, nearly bumping into Wicket.

"Latara, I was wondering if you could come and help me with..."

"Latara, will you play something for my birthday? Please? Kneesaa can sing, and Malani, you can join me for a dance. Is that alright?"

"CHAK!"

Malani squeaked and clapped her hands, forgetting why she needed Latara in the first place. She pulled both girls by hand, to the corner of the hut where Weechee and Willy were drumming.

"Attention, please. Two of my lovely friends, Kneesaa and Latara, agreed to honour my request and make this evening even more memorable! Shall we do 'Knaa Naa'?"

Kneesaa wasn't so sure about this, but she cleared her throat, gave Weechee a sign to start drumming and proceeded to sing the song of soul trees. Next to her, Latara acted as if she had never played the flute before. There was no music coming out of it, just squeaks and an odd tone or two. Kneesaa sung louder and louder, to get the guests' attention off music, and she clapped her hands as little Malani was dancing with the birthday boy, with a huge grin on her face.

When the song was over, the girls went back to the table.

"What, by the Great Tree, were you doing, Latara?"

"Whatever I was doing, I let it all out and now I'm ready. Where is Teebo? I've been thinking that tonight might be a good opportunity to..."

"...to what? You just courted every single unmarried male in the village, apart from Paploo and the Warricks, and then you couldn't play your flute to save your life...What was this show about?"

"You see, I thought he was here, to see what I was doing. So much for my plan! Err...I wanted to make him take action on the...point we reached some time ago. He never said anything about it."

"You mean when you kissed him at King Elbo's palace?" said Kneesaa, still slightly frustrated with the situation.

"Chak. You know it was not just in the heat of the moment. After that kiss, I've wanted to apologise for treating him the way I did, but then I remembered how he ignored me for a whole year before that!"

"He never ignored you. He was never the same with you as he was with everybody else. You're very lucky. I don't know how it feels to have my affection for somebody returned the way I would want to, but you do and you should act on it!"

Paploo was standing next to Kneesaa and Latara, laughing.

"Ha! I knew it all along! The local lurdo and the wannabe have a thing going on! But a kiss? I didn't see that coming, honestly!"

Latara angrily stomped her foot.

"Whom did you call a wannabe, mama's boy?"

"A kiss! Bet you drooled all over each other's faces, hahahaha! I sure missed hanging with the four of you while I was in warrior training, I would have traded fur off my own rear-end to see that!"

"You obviously have a lot of it to waste, then!"

Kneesaa shook her head and, as Paploo was laughing, she whispered to Latara:

"Forget about mama's boy and his comments, he's just teasing you, as usual. Go after your little honeydrop. You can bring him a mug of warm milk, it's cold up there."

Kneesaa followed Latara out and then ran after Paploo.

"Whom did you tell the secret tell while I was getting her out of the party?"

"Nobody…"

"Fine. And don't you dare to tell anybody, cousin! Lumat would ground Latara for the next ten moons if he found out! And knowing how cruel he can be, I would not forgive you! And I would tell your mother about all the stupid things you have ever done, and that's a lot!"

"Relax, I was just about to sip a glass of...ee cha waa ma, this is vile! And sour. Latara sure has a strange taste in berry juice! She sipped from this bottle a handful of times."

They smelled the contents of the bottle and decided to take it to Deej. He took a closer look, tasted the drink and shrugged.

"This is fermented berry juice, what I drink on particularly cold days, when I light my pipe. It was not intended for parties. Weechee and Widdle sure have a strange sense of humour. Those two rascals probably wanted to get Wicket tipsy in front of everybody, but he didn't even touch the drinks tonight."

Paploo almost laughed at the idea of a tipsy Wicket, but stopped when he saw disapproval in his cousin's eyes.

"He didn't, but Latara drank a lot of this."

"K'vark. Where is she now?"

"She went for a breath of fresh air, sir." said Kneesaa, subtly stepping on Paploo's foot.

"I guess she won't get far, then. Ugh, why do I trust my sons? Will they ever do anything right?"

Deej went to the other chamber, grumbling along the way. He was determined to deal with his sons later, in order not to spoil the party.

**Footnotes**

Chirita appears in Malani The Warrior and treats Wicket the same way Wicket treats Malani.

I'm implying that Lumat might be an abusive parent. The beginning of The Travelling Jindas pretty much proves it.

Tak is a character mentioned in The Raich, as one of Latara's supposed crushes, he turned out to be dating Kneesaa's older sister, Asha.

Flitchee is the Ewok who acts like a stereotype Texan at the end of ground battle in ROTJ…the one who fires from a blaster and goes WOOOHOO!

The "Knaa Naa" song does not exist, I made it up. The title indeed means Soul Trees in Ewokese.

Ee cha waa ma (alternate spellings: bee cha waa wa, ay chihuahua…) – gee whiz!

Great Tree – I assume this would be like Adam to humans, as Ewoks believe they're the descendants of it, as per Wicket's speech in ROTJ novelisation

The bizarre kiss Latara and Kneesaa mention is from The Tragic Flute and I never liked it...had they kissed in the first season, it would've probably been much cuter.


	3. Chapter 3

Latara climbed the slippery stairs to the top observatory, carrying two hot mugs in her hands. She found Teebo leaning against the wooden fence and trying to draw what he saw through Logray's telescope.

"Goopa, Teebo, didn't see you at Wicket's party, as I was late because of those two little barf-eaters at home. I brought you some warm blasé tree goat milk."

"Thank you!" Teebo looked down, smiling, as she approached the telescope.

"What are you looking at?"

"The stars are bright tonight; would you like to look at them?"

She took a glance, as he enthusiastically continued.

"That bright star over there...it's Kuna's Eye. And the one over there...um, it's Kuna's Tail. You know...if you mounted the fastest of Endorian creatures, a teek, it would still take you until the end of time to get there, that is how far it is! Stars…so mysterious, aren't they? They burn bright, but they don't turn to ashes like wood, so they must be made of something as flammable as wood and as hard as stone."

He's always been like this, she thought to herself - talking to trees, hearing colour and seeing what others couldn't see.

"Stop for a moment, Teebo. I can't follow. Tell me…where do you think you are now?"

"Strange question, but…I am at the observatory, to record the position of stars in the sky, so I can warn the Council of Elders if..."

"That's not what I meant, lurdo! Where do you think you will be five snows from now?"

He didn't say a word at first, and then he placed his hands on her shoulders and started rambling.

"The future is not clear, it keeps on changing as it comes along, it's never at peace, and it's never still. What the stars are telling me today might not be anything like what they will tell me later."

She was puzzled. In her current state, it all made even less sense than it would otherwise.

"You annoy me so much sometimes! You seem to have so many dreams that you can't even count them on your own six fingers! Is anything solid with you? Do you ever clearly say what you think? How do I know when you are for real?"

"Stop pulling the straps of my hat!"

"I am the hoodmaker apprentice. I can pull them as much as I want. They're basically your boss-me-around handles," she chuckled and took the hat off his head. "You need to wear something more suitable for your age, anyway. Not even Widdle would wear that anymore. And you, even though you're growing taller, you still look like...the same little boy with...large green eyes...I've always...never mind, this clearly isn't going anywhere! Here is an idea, to see if you can be clear about anything. How do I look like? Can you describe me?"

"Just a moment."

Snow was falling again and Teebo rushed to get the telescope inside. Latara was tapping her foot.

"You're something else!" he finally muttered, with a smile on his face.

"What is that supposed to mean?"

He took a deep breath and continued.

"You're...eh...I mean...the only thing on Endor that is more beautiful than the rivers of colour in the sky I listen to when I'm alone. While your words are often coming across as screaming flaming red, like the way they do now I still hear them in soft pink…because it's you. And I don't think you believe me, so I will have to find another way to show you. Imagine this was words."

His voice was shaking. He wiped the snow off her face and, to her surprise, placed a soft kiss on her lips.

It was nothing like their first kiss, some months ago in an underwater cavern. This time there was no audience. No danger. No thrill. None of the things she yearned for so often were there, yet, she liked it. For a couple of minutes, there seemed to be nothing else in the world. No lights of the village underneath, no stars interspersed by snowflakes, not even the pinkish hue of Tana, always hanging from its corner of the sky. There was just the two of them, leaning on the observatory wall and kissing. The dreams she shared with her best friend on long raft rides were never this close. The dreams he only ever confessed to his Soul tree were coming true.

"Since I can't work when it's snowing like this, I guess we can head back to the party. I'm really hungry now!" he said, as he finally stopped to catch a breath and put his hat back on.

"WHAT ON ENDOR? You can make up rhymes, speak in animal tongues, but you are clueless about here and now! If we go back together, what do you think others will say? Say, how many snows have you witnessed?"

"I...I would need your hands too, to count them...and a pair of feet. A finger or toe less? Why? What did I say?"

"The moment your lips parted with mine, you went back to being a wokling again! A guy and a girl do not walk around just like that. Bozzie and other village blabbermouths would go straight to my father and tell him you probably took me to see the Light Spirit! That's what they have been saying about Asha and Tak some moons ago..."

"But you cannot just see the Light Spirit in one place! It's everywhere! Not even master Logray has seen it!"

"You ARE a lurdo! Who knows, maybe I only enjoyed kissing you because you put some sort of a spell on me, like you do with…disobedient animals!"

"What? Where did this come from? And why?"

"Figure it out for yourself, in any tongue you like. I'm going back. Good night."

She headed to the stairs.

"Watch out, it's sl..." Teebo couldn't even finish the sentence, Latara already slipped. He helped her up.

"There is something strange about you tonight, but I cannot quite put my fffff…"

She kissed him again, in the same near-violent way as in the cavern, then shook her head, pushed him away and disappeared in the night, before he could even go after her.

"Well, that was…strange. I guess I'm having a nightmare, a nightmare that started out like the most beautiful dream ever. Maybe if I pinch myself, I'll wake up?"

That didn't help.

Teebo sat on the top step and starred at the night sky until it got too cold. Unlike him, Latara promptly returned to the party. Only Kneesaa, Malani and Paploo were still there with the Warricks.

"W-what has happened? Where is everybody?"

"As the wind got stronger, somebody said that it's dangerous to be away from home, as the spirit of Denlett can push you off the platforms, aided by the wind. And what has happened to you? Dear child, you look so…sick."

Weechee stepped out.

"Shodu, she's not sick. She's…drunk. It's my fault. Dad already found out. I'm glad she came back from wherever she had wandered off to; otherwise I would not have been able to forgive myself. Now we have to make sure that Lumat doesn't find out. Kneesaa, perhaps the two of you can have a sleepover? You're home alone these days, anyway. Deej and I will go and tell Lumat and Zephee that Latara is with you, so they wouldn't worry."

"Good idea! Latara, you're going with me. And in the morning you'll tell me all about…your new song, right?"

Paploo followed Kneesaa and Latara to the royal hut. Wicket was thinking about where his party went wrong. It just wasn't meant to be this way. You don't come out of age every couple of moons, you come out of age only once in your life. How come all these simpletons were scared of the Denlett spirit, when a warrior apprentice like him could've protected them? At this point, he was not sure if some of the spirits actually existed, or if they were invented to scare woklings away from doing something particularly risky.

As he was pondering the existence of higher power, his best friend returned and frowned at the sight of the empty chamber.

"Seems that I arrived too late. Not that anything has been going well tonight…but I guess I can still have my piece of cake, right, Wicket?"

"I'm but your sister ate the piece we set aside for you, as well as many pieces before that…then she went outside and, you can guess what happened next. She's sleeping on a chair now, silly little girl."

"Not again…"

"By the way, you missed on a lot. At some point, Kneesaa sang a song and Latara was…well, interesting. I think she just set the record in dancing with most guys in a single evening and then she just…lost herself? It turned out that she drunk a lot of fermented berry juice Weechee intended to use to pull a prank on me."

There was no response, just a blank stare.

"Not you too, Teebo! What is wrong?"

"N-n-nothing! We will talk tomorrow, you must be tired. I'm going to carry my sister home, prepare one of Logray's herbal remedies for her, grab a snack and hit the hammock."

Teebo picked Malani up and got out of the hut, backwards, with a confused expression on his face. Wicket was now alone with his family.

"What a weird guy!" sighed Weechee, "He comes here, gives you that…strange…whatever it may be, then he leaves and comes back when everybody has gone home, you tell him about that little tart and how she behaved and he seems terrified…"

"He just had a long day, brother…"

"…which is a shame, the two of them would be a perfect match – they're both into those art things, beauty and whatever, they're useless to begin with and he's probably the only guy who would put up with her. And since he suddenly went from being a fleebog like you to being awkwardly tall, they'd even look cute together. Like a Phlog trying to romance a hill full of pretty flowers…I don't know."

Weechee was laughing at himself, as nobody found his remark particularly funny. Widdle went to sleep already, followed by the parents. Wicket took one last look at himself in the jug of water before putting out the fire in the pit. He knew that he was not going to grow much taller. Why did they have to remind him of that? He was capable of as much heroics as every other Ewok. And how come his brothers did not understand that he was no longer the baby of the family? Their sister, Winda, was already three snows old, they should have gotten used to her being the youngest. It seemed that he would still have to work to prove himself.

On the topmost level of the village, in a cozy hut just off the main square, Warok woke up from a vivid dream, having heard noise in the main chamber. Still sleepy, he was convinced that some spirits were messing with his winter supplies; so he got up, lit a lantern and went to see what's going on.

He was relieved. It was not the spirits - his son and daughter were sat at the dining table. They have returned from the birthday party at Warricks' home.

"Why aren't you in your hammocks? Not that I would control either of you, but it's very late."

"Malani overate and she's feeling very sick, and I had to run to the observatory, I missed the party and didn't have one single bite, so…I'm looking for something to snack on and I've also lit the pit to prepare a remedy for her."

"I'll join you, my son. Would you like a piece of ham from last snow season's supplies?"

"Nah, I'll be fine with some bread and jam. If I wasn't this hungry, I probably wouldn't care about eating at all. I wish tonight never happened."

Warok knew his son too well to shrug the last sentence off.

"Is it old Lumat's daughter again?"

"Yes." Teebo responded reluctantly, "She somehow got drunk on fermented sunberry juice, came to the observatory and insulted me a couple of times...I thought to myself 'now or never' and I kind of…told how I felt and we…eeeh…kissed…for a while. Then she went angry again and left."

"She insulted you and you kissed her? Sounds like you. But..."

"In my defense, it happened before and the first time around it was her doing, but this was completely different…dad, you won't tell Lumat about this, right?"

"Of course not – what I talk about to my son remains between the walls of this hut. It's enough that I have to actually share guard duties with that grouch every now and then, it's not like I have to talk to him. He remarried old, he was never meant to be a father. So…in any other situation, I would be happy…my son has first grown to be taller than me, he passed his apprenticeship, though not for what most parents would want, and now he's kissed a girl. Sadly, even if there wasn't for her father's disciplinarian attitude, this girl would still be trouble. I told you to give up on her long ago; everybody will want her at some point."

"I know, dad. She thinks I'm a child...and I'm one snow older than her. After kissing her, I suggested that we go back to Wicket's birthday party together and she rambled something about seeing the Light Spirit. I said that nobody can see the Light Spirit and she called me a lurdo."

Warok laughed and patted his son on the back.

"That's our little mystic, always looking at things from a higher tree. What if I told you that I saw the Light Spirit with your mother, that even Lumat saw it with Zephee? Do you understand it now? It's just a figure of speech."

His little mystic, half a head taller than both of his parents, pulled his hat over his face. Warok wasn't sure if he was ashamed of the idea of seeing the light spirit, his blissful ignorance towards the actual, tangible world, beyond the language of the trees and rivers of colours, or both.

"Your mother and I, we were a bit older than you. And we, umm…went to the forest after one such party, I believe it was the Sun King festival. And, as the snow was melting at the end of its season, we were blessed with a little boy. Nothing wrong about the Light Spirit. Of course, the Elders had a hearing for us, asking us why I didn't do the usual – built a hut, accepted gifts from females and picked one to marry. I don't regret this, I am happily married to somebody I really love and we have a warm home and two wonderful children."

"I understand. But I don't want to get married. I don't care about seeing the Light Spirit now. I just wish that those I care about, including you and mom, understood me a bit better. I've always felt alone in the crowd and I'm not even sure why. Now that I stand out with my height, it's even worse."

Warok didn't respond, he shook his head and went back to the other chamber. They had this discussion so many times and it would always end the same way.

Teebo finished making the remedy for Malani, woke her up and held her as she drunk it; then he carried her to their chamber and tucked her in with her straw doll, while she was still babbling something about dancing with Wicket.

If only his own feelings for somebody were as simple and straightforward as his sister's, he thought to himself, leaving his pouch and the hat on the hook. Once he got into the hammock, even with the blanket over his head, light from the full sistermoon seemed to be getting into his face. He looked at the celestial body, and suddenly, he had a feeling that it was laughing at him. Just like everybody else.

And then he fell through the hammock.

**Footnotes**

Oh, the astronomy. I do hope that Kuna constellation can be seen from the forest moon of Endor! After all, it's right above the galactic plane and considered a part of the Moddell subsector.

Latara actually calls her younger siblings barf-eaters multiple times in the cartoon series. I did not make it up.

Teek – the white gnome-ish creatures one of which appears in the Battle for Endor TV movie...and runs like freakin' Road Runnner or Speedy Gonzales.

Tana – Ewokese name for the actual gas giant Endor

Lurdo – idiot, weirdo, etc. Used throughout the cartoon series and in some parodies.

Sistermoon – one of the other Endor moons, presumably the closest one to the gas giant. Ewoks see it the same way we see our moon.

The romantic interplay between these two was really interesting in Rampage of the Phlogs and had they had more screen time in The Three Lessons, that could've been fun.

Yes, there's an observatory in the Bright Tree Village and Logray owns a telescope somehow. See the Night of the Stranger episode, season 2.

Yes, there's a reference to one of Yoda's more famous replies, assuming that a Force sensitive can figure out that much.

Chromestesia is an interesting type of synaesthesia and I recommend you to read about it. This is from the book mentioned in the first part's footnotes.

Taming disobedient animals? Check the first episode of the cartoon series in my reply above from 3:24 for the next 15 seconds. The discussion on that on the Republic Forces podcast is interesting, too.

With Light Spirit being the equivalent of god to Ewoks, whatever "taking somebody to see the Light Spirit" means has got to be…yeah, precisely that. It's Latara we're talking about! And this euphemism is obviously something I made up, as the series had no PG-rated elements.

One of the SW encyclopaedias says that a male is to build a hut and that females are to bring gifts and that he then picks one…I had to explain why the parents of these two were never present in the cartoon series (Warok appears twice and says "Uh?"at some point) and my only idea was to make them somewhat more free-spirited than the others and trusting their son to the point of allowing him to take care of his sister most of the time.


	4. Chapter 4

The next morning, the hunting party got back home, carrying a lot of small birds. As they were approaching the council hut, Romba looked down, observing the disappointment in the passerby's eyes. The hunters did not manage to locate anything large enough and they were about to face Kazak, the head elder. With other leaders of the tribe away, he was guaranteed to be more unpleasant than he would be in presence of Logray and Chirpa.

They slowly marched in. Kazak was standing next to the window, looking at the snow-covered roofs and platforms. He seemed to ignore them at first, until Tippet stepped out.

"Head elder Kazak, we have both good and bad news. We have returned from our hunt, and we have brought some game."

"And what would be bad news?"

"It's small game. We found traces of a large animal, Wunka believes it's a gurreck, but they got lost at some point, probably because of last night's heavy snowfall. So, err, this will be enough food for those who need it, and as for everything else, we will have to hunt again."

Kazak rolled his eyes.

"You have horns on your head, Tippet, yet you seem to have nothing on the inside, either. Are you aware of what's going to happen now?"

A couple of hunters were showing signs of disapproval.

"Yes, you are going to recruit a group of young Ewoks and take them with you. It's circumstances like this where they will learn to work for more than just themselves, their families and their egos. They will learn to work for the benefit of our entire village."

"But…"

"I don't want to hear no 'but', Tippet. This evening, I want to see them here and I want your party to leave by dawn. Chief Chirpa and Logray must not return to a supply hut that contains only fruits, nuts, vegetables and some smoked meat from earlier. And now get out of my sight, the days are short in the snow season and you will need to hurry up."

"But…"

"I said NO BUTS. Get out of here, now."

The hunters got out and stood in the square, wondering what would be the best thing to do. Some names popped up in the conversation. Romba mentioned the Warrick brothers, Wunka thought of Paploo. They eventually agreed to split and go from home to home, as not many villagers were outside on such a cold day.

Kneesaa was cleaning the walkway in front of the royal hut when she spotted one of the hunters.

"Goopa, my princess."

"Goopa, Graak, what is going on? Why are so many of our hunters walking around the village like that? Are we in danger? Did some large animal climb up here?"

"No, nothing like that. We're recruiting young ones to join us in the next hunt, as the hunting party did not manage to catch anything large enough to keep us fed for a longer period of time. At this point, we're asking for volunteers, but if we don't get a sufficient number of them, we're going to pick some ourselves. The volunteers are to gather at the council hut at sunset."

As Graak was making his way to the next hut, Kneesaa regretted that she was not allowed to apply, as she had to stay home and formally run the village with the council until her father returns. She was still somewhat bitter about past arguments with the governing body, who did not seem open to changes. They were surprised when Chirpa announced that she was his heir, they were against her taking part in the most recent Tree of Light expedition, so she tagged along with Latara. In so many other everyday situations, she felt repressed. In her mind, there was no difference between males and females, but sadly, the conservative villagers who were helping her father make decisions did not agree on this.

She finished cleaning and got back inside, just in time to wake up Latara, who was snoring in Asha's bed.

"Whaaa?! What a night! I had a series of really strange dreams, so glad I'm awake. Why am I not at home in my hammock, but in a…large bed full of red fur? Eww, talking about cleanliness…"

Latara stretched and turned around. She saw Kneesaa standing by the bed and laughing.

"Chak…my sister should really shed less, but there is nothing I can do about. Anyway, good morning, Latara! Do you even remember what happened last night?"

"No. I remember going to Wicket's birthday party and then…I woke up here. There are some other things I can think of, but I was probably dreaming."

Kneesaa took a deep breath and told Latara what happened. She was listening to it and while some bits of the story seemed to amuse her, she was genuinely shocked about trying to romance Tak.

"It's funny how these fermented berry drinks can bring out the worst in a person. I did intend to get some attention; after all, it's me we're talking about…but at the same time, I definitely did not want to approach every single person present, not in that way! So, you say that you encouraged me to go to the observatory and talk to Teebo? That would imply that my dream was not really a dream. Oh, k'vark, how am I going to solve this?"

"I cannot advise you if you don't tell me what happened. And since you've been sighing over Teebo for many snows now, I am pretty sure you owe me that much." the princess winked at her friend.

"You will be surprised as much as I was; I think…I was horrible. I kept on questioning his inner world. I'm pretty sure every other villager, regardless of the situation, would argue with me and tell me to get lost. Instead of it, he told me that he sees me as the most beautiful thing in his life and said that he's lost for words that could describe it further…and then he kissed me."

"Ee cha waa ma! Wait...knowing you, you probably pushed him away? Hit him?"

"Not this time, no. I was standing on my tiptoes until my feet started to hurt, cursing whatever caused him to grow this tall…and I was enjoying every moment of it. It was as cold as in Snow King's palace, the wind was blowing, but I closed my eyes, leaned on the wall and drifted off to…uh, this is so pathetic, forget I said it."

"Not pathetic at all. It's romantic! You have no idea how much I wanted this to happen, for both of you. I was starting to lose my hope…to the point where I assumed you'll suddenly be swept over your feet by some show-off type and that he would become a hermit like his master, sort of…"

Latara frowned.

"You're not laughing. Does this mean you messed things up afterwards?"

"Well, yes. He stopped kissing me and suggested we go back to the party because he was hungry. I took that pretty hard and said that everybody would know about us and think we…"

"I see. And I still don't see the problem. If I ever get to rule this village, I promise to stay out of my people's relationships, morals and family planning. Mark my words."

"Anyway, he had no idea what I was talking about. I'm always puzzled by his naivety, but that and thinking of his stomach just…ruined the moment for me. Now I wonder why I overreacted, but hey, a girl can be wrong, right?"

"A girl can also be very drunk and occasionally full of..."

"What? You wouldn't want your guy to be a bit more of a…guy-guy?"

"I would. But I like rogues, as I've never been one. If you were every paying attention to anybody other than yourself, you would've noticed that I mention unrequited love pretty often. My crush, whoever it is, as I'm not ready to reveal it at this time is more of a guy-guy. But you, you're lying right now. You don't like my cousin Paploo because he's a rogue, you argued with Wicket on multiple occasions because you're both like fire, you never think before you do or say things…and that's precisely why you like Teebo – you're not like the other girls and he's not like the other guys. Also, you have power over him."

"I guess you're right. And what should I do right now?"

"The next time you're alone with him, just be yourself and don't judge him for being who he is."

"I get it, I get it…by the way, whom you were talking to and what is going on?"

"It was Graak, one of the hunters. They could not catch anything big enough to keep the village fed for a longer period of time, so they're gathering young volunteers to join them. I know Wicket will want to go and today is the first time he's actually eligible. I think Paploo will want to go, too…come to think, you could give it a go as well. You don't have to stay here and pretend you know how to run a village."

"Me? Sleep in a tent, wrestle with wildlife and go for a day or more without washing up and brushig my fur…?"

"Yes, you. I think it would serve you well. Plus, since your little honeydrop is filling in for his master, you can spend some time away from him, contemplating on this. If he comes around looking for you, I will talk to him. I think we're almost on the same wavelength when it comes to...certain experiences with others."

Latara never thought about doing such a thing. And why would she, in the first place? As the village's hoodmaker apprentice, she never had to worry about anything – she'd help out the head hoodmaker whenever necessary, come and go into the sewing hut as she pleases and it was always warm and quiet there. On the other hand, if she was gone for a couple of days, chances of somebody telling her father about last night were slim. The hunters were mostly older Ewoks and, if the Warrick brothers indeed came along, there would be somebody to keep her company. The only thing she would have to put up with other than the cold would be Paploo and his constant teasing. That wasn't enough to keep her away from an adventure.

"That's it, I'll be going! Some thrill will make me forget last night more easily."

"And that's how I like you!"

The two friends went to have breakfast in the warm central chamber. Everything seemed much better than at the party, all of the sudden.

Later that day, Shodu was cleaning up the mess from last night, when she was visited by a pair of hunters, with a request for Weechee, Widdle and Wicket to join the hunt. The oldest of the brothers went to wake up the other two.

"Wake up, wake up! It's past lunchtime, but that is not what matters most. We were invited on a hunt. Yubnub!"

Widdle muttered a couple of k'varks and turned to the other side. Unlike him, Wicket literally jumped off the hammock.

"We? As in…the two of you, but me as well?"

"Of course, you're old enough for that now, you little lurdo. We're supposed to have a talk with the Head Elder Kazak at the Council Hut in the evening and we would head off at dawn. The village needs some new hunters in order to trace something big enough to keep us fed. Up for it?"

"Why do you even ask? I'm thrilled! I don't even have to look for a loophole this time."

He got up and put the hood on. On the hook behind it, there was his old orange one. He'd almost forgotten about it, ever since he got the green one. It smelled of early years, adventures concluding with finding Asha and the days when he wasn't as confident as he is now. Perhaps he's taken this belt of honour thing too far? No. It just cannot be.

"Wicket, are you hungry?" Shodu caught him thinking, "Oh, you never wear that one anymore! I loved it. I loved it when we knew what you were up to and when you..."

"I know!" he smirked, less patient than the other night, "I know all that, but I'm a grown-up now. How come nobody understands that?"

Shodu sighed and went to check on the cauldron of stew on the firepit, as her three boys and a girl sat at the table. She wasn't in the mood for explaining what it is like to watch one's children grow up for Father Tree knows which time. Her children would always be children to her. As she was listening to Weechee talk about hunting during their meal together she, however, wondered if they lived in two separate worlds.


	5. Chapter 5

On his way to the council hut, Wicket decided to drop by master Logray's hut. He walked in just as Teebo was giving something from a large jar to a visitor complaining about a head cold.

"Just take another one of these in the morning and you should be fine. Chak, master Logray made it, don't worry about it. Oh, look who's here to see me. Have you recovered from your party yet, Wicket?"

"Goopa! I sure did and I'm on my way to joining the hunting party. Whoa...you look worn out. Your eyes are half-closed."

"I'm tired...I barely slept. The hammock broke and I could only sleep on the floor. Not sure what we'll do about it."

The young shaman sat down by his friend.

"So, why are they hunting? Are our supplies of meat really that low?"

"I'm afraid they are."

"I could give you something to warm you up during the expedition. It's going to be even colder for the next couple of nights and the root or p..."

"Just imagine what will happen if I'm the one who finds that gurreck! These people who doubt me would finally shut up! And I could complete my belt of honour, effortlessly!"

"Wicket, you are not listening to me..."

"All hail the mighty warrior! He's truly one of a kind! Let's hear it for..."

While his friend was once again all caught up in his daydreaming of fame, Teebo went to the large map on the hut wall and found himself quietly rewinding the recent events. Everybody, with exception of Kneesaa, has been self-centered, to the point where he was looking forward to some quiet time. He loved Wicket like the younger brother he never had, but for the past year or so, they haven't had a proper conversation, as each attempt to have one would end just like it did now. Paploo, who was the only person who could get him angry to the point of wanting to fight him in the past, has not been around their group of friends for a long time, and despite being only slightly older than him, he seemed to be looking at them from an adult's point of view. At least that lurdo couldn't openly bully him anymore. For once, growing tall for an Ewok had some perks.

He was trying not to think about Latara, but she popped up on his mind, uninvited, just like in any other situation. Whatever they had or did not have has been going on for so long. She became friends with Kneesaa when Lumat returned to the village with his new wife after a long time spent elsewhere. And he took an instant liking to her; it only seemed natural for an aspiring poet to be attracted to an aspiring musician. It would often look as if it was mutual, as her voice was remarkably different in his presence, she'd often grab his hand in dangerous situations, brush against him and he'd still smile thinking of that time when they danced together right before the stranglethorn plant nearly destroyed the village. After that, he was determined to do something about it, but at this point in time, he was sure that asking his father for advice made it worse. The moment he started openly courting that girl, she appeared to no longer want him and the more he tried to get her attention, the more he made a fool of himself, going against his nature, saying things he never thought he would say and spending nights awake questioning his own doings, which would result in numerous mistakes at work and only a passing grade the first time his skills were tested. The unexpected kiss some months ago made it even more confusing. After last night, when he finally got the courage to reciprocate, he could feel her heart melt, only so it would get colder than ever the very next moment. All because of the Light Spirit. He would not confess that to his dad, but he did think of it before - he just didn't understand why she brought it up like that. Why was everybody of his age suddenly all about that? Love is just not that simple! There's so much more to it.

Hearing footsteps brought him back from his thoughts.

"Endor to Teebo...are you there?"

"Latara? I mean Kneesaa...goopa! Wait, wasn't Wicket here when I last looked?"

"He was, but he had to run to the council meeting. Now it turns out that they need you and me there as well, so I came here to let you know."

"Is that...now?"

"Chak, let's go. And by the way...I know what happened last night and I wanted to talk about it later. I want to help!"

At this point, Teebo wanted something to come crashing down from space and take him away. But his friend was pulling his hand and he had to go. They got to the council hut, which was packed with the village youth. Everybody was chatting loudly, he couldn't get lost in his own thoughts anymore. And then he spotted Latara. What was she doing here?

"Quiet!" Head elder Kazak yelled at the present Ewoks. Most didn't even see him go in. Where did he come from?

"That's better. Then again, being quiet is probably the only thing some of you are capable of. I assume you already know why you're here. The council needs a group of young warriors, warrior apprentices, scouts and whoever else is interested to help our hunters out. The supplies of meat are low and, in this cold, whatever else we have just won't do. As per our tradition, in such cases, we need all the help we can get. And to be a part of this expedition, you have to be brave, tough and up for challenge. For those who aspire to be warriors, this is a good chance to add some more trinkets to your hoods, necklaces and belts of honour!"

The crowd started chatting again. A handful of present Ewoks left, the others looked to the old retired warrior sitting in the centre of the massive table again. But he was done with his speech and he only had one question for them.

"So, who's applying? No hands up, come here. I want to see you."

The Warrick brothers, Paploo, Latara and a couple of others stepped out. Kazak noticed something he wasn't used to seeing.

"A girl in the hunting party? What do you do otherwise?"

"I am the resident hoodmaker apprentice, sir. I thought I could help with the traps, if something needs sewing or strengthening."

A couple of hunters laughed. Kazak was puzzled.

"That's nice. But I am not sure if you understand what it means to be a hunter. The party may travel for hours with no stopping. It will be cold. Is your shiny fur up for that and can you stand seeing your pretty hat stuck to a thorn, your little feet sinking in snow?"

Latara's angry pout didn't seem to change Kazak's attitude. He's been in more battles than he could remember and he couldn't recall that girls were taking a part in any of them. They would sit at home and wait for their men to come back. They would mourn them if they were gone. They would weave baskets and cloth, not go to a war or a hunt. Or at least that's how it had to be. He was about to say something witty again, and then he looked around and, noticing two young Ewoks sitting by his side, he remembered something – he had to deal with that other girl, the one he couldn't be snarky to, as well as that lurdo whom Logray appears to adore.

"Please, give us some time to decide if you can be a part of the group. In the meantime, as everybody knows, our mighty chief and our shaman are away and they wouldn't be back for another couple of days. I thought I would therefore invite their stand-ins to take a part of this meeting, as guests.

"We're ruled by a girl and healed by the clumsy guy?" somebody joked from the crowd, "No wonder the snow is falling and we're out of food, it's a curse!"

"No curse has been thrown on this village ever since the demise of Morag, the Tulgah witch…" said one of the guests.

"You are silly. Can't you see that I'm being ironic about your and the girl's abilities? And now we're meant to have another girl - in the hunting party, out of all places. Let's see what your bookish memory can say to that…shaman." the interrupter accented the last word.

"The trees didn't object to Latara's request, I am going to check the stars again tonight", Teebo was not feeling comfortable, but he continued, "…and see if there is anything unusual, but I just don't see why there would be. As far as the two of us are concerned, Princess Kneesaa and I, if you care about our opinion at all, we would go ahead with this…because…err…err…umm…"

Kneesaa noticed her friend's confusion and jumped in.

"…because we already have at least two promising female warriors, one of whom is my sister. I don't see a reason why my friend Latara, whom I value highly, wouldn't be allowed to try something new. We had numerous adventures together in the past couple of years and she can pull this out."

"I say no." the head elder banged his fist against the table.

"And I say yes, and my word counts as my father's word would. So, she's going."

Wicket nudged one of his brothers. Second later, all three Warricks and Paploo clapped. A couple of others shrugged and clapped as well. Kazak had no choice but to change his mind. He told the group to be ready before the dawn, assigned a leader and dismissed the meeting. Everybody was ready to leave, so did the two young stand-ins, but he asked them to stay behind.

"Princess Kneesaa? What on Endor do you think you're doing? The council is not going to put up with this kind of uh…power abuse. I am aware that the girl is your friend and that the other ones who applied are pretty much all from your circle of friends as well, but you're not allowed to…"

Kneesaa sighed.

"I am not allowed to...what? With all due respect, Kazak, you were the one who was against my father's decision to announce that I would succeed him, and you nearly fell off your chair laughing when Logray publicly confirmed that Teebo would be trained to become our new shaman in future, despite nobody else in the village having natural powers from the earliest childhood. Why don't you trust us young ones?"

"Your blood is boiling, your young hearts are preoccupied with having fun, making love, showing off and leaving an impression on your peers and…I just don't know."

"At least our hearts still…beat." Teebo interrupted him, "and I don't understand why you think we're all the same. We're not."

"Your poetry fails to impress me, young one, as I remember the day you had to be taken away on a leash…but fine. Have it your way and stay alert, both of you. I'll be checking on what you're doing. And I want you to be present in this very hut when I'm out, just in case. Want power? You'll have to work hard for it."

He angrily walked away, and the two young Ewoks remained behind, wondering what has just happened. Whatever was in Kazak's head, he clearly had his own opinion that was not possible to change in one night. Neither of them was power-hungry in any way, they were just assuming their responsibilities and acting accordingly. Looks like a lot of water would have to flow below the ice on the Yarlubb River and a lot more snow to fall over the village in order to prove him that.


	6. Chapter 6

As the sunlight from Ibleam was barely peeking through the treetops at the break of dawn, a group of hunters was ready to leave Bright Tree Village. With their blankets rolled on top of their backpacks carrying only the bare essentials and whatever weapons they were using, from the platforms they looked like dots in the snow. About dozen of males and one female were set to find enough food to last for one moon.

Hunched over a cart covered in ice and still containing a couple of leftover honey melons from the most recent harvest, Teebo was writing something down in a hurry. It seemed that his timing was right. Right below, in the snowy field, away from the rest of the hunters, Latara was showing Widdle Warrick how to tie a blanket to his backpack.

"This is not working! No matter what I do, it falls off!" moaned the scout.

"Just tie a knot right here!"

Widdle tried it himself. Just when he was about to finally fix the blanket to the backpack, a snowball hit him on the head. He looked up to the platforms, but he couldn't see anything.

"Some lurdo is playing pranks on me!" he screamed and ran towards the group, "How on Endor would anybody put effort into waking up this early solely to mess with me?"

"Chak, poor you...you totally don't deserve it, it's not like you would ever put so much effort into pranking somebody." grinned Latara, and then looked up to the treetops herself. She noticed a pink lantern bird feather peeking from the cart. As if nothing had happened the other night, she lit up and jumped. Teebo got up from behind the cart and waved what looked like a piece of parchment. She pointed to herself. He nodded and got ready to toss it.

"Stop giggling and get back to the group! Now!"

Wunka appeared out of nowhere and pulled Latara away, to take her to the group. She shook her head and slapped him on his wrist.

"I can go myself, this is not captivity...k'vark..."

A little later, head elder Kazak was observing the hunters from the top of the main stairway, accompanied by Kneesaa who, once again, didn't seem particularly happy to be around him.

"As you can see, they're about to leave. I provided some basic guidelines to Wunka, so I do not need to personally address the hunters. He will join them soon."

"My father is almost never present when the hunting parties are leaving, so why did you wake us up at this hour?"

"There are two reasons, princess. One is simple – I wanted to see if the two of you would really show up as early. The other, I need to give you a list of tasks for the day...whenever your friend stops fooling around that cart and tossing snowballs..."

"Teebo, come here!"

"Sorry, I had to…finish something. And now I have to head and prepare a batch of..."

"No, you don't. The two of you will be watching the woklings today."

"The woklings? Why?"

"Since you insisted on your friend joining the hunting party and she was always the first choice for the village-wide babysitter, I assumed it would not be a problem for you to replace her. After all, your hearts are full of love, or whatever it was that you said last night after the meeting."

"But we haven't babysat the woklings in ages!" protested Kneesaa, "Also, didn't you say that you want us at the council hut when you're not there? And didn't master Logray ask Teebo to spend at least some time of the day at his hut and prepare flu medicine, if anybody needs any, given that it's the snow season and…"

"You'll do fine. You can take the woklings to the royal hut, I'm sure the great chief would not mind, as he thinks his daughter is capable of everything, either way. And if anybody needs medicine, they'll be directed there, too. Now, move on."

As the two friends were going to pick Nippet and Wiley from Zephee's, muttering silent k'varks directed at Kazak, the hunters stood still before Wunka.

"Good morning! I will be leading this expedition, as Tippet went to visit somebody in another village, which is strange, but whatever. Apart from him, it seems that nobody bailed out. Head elder Kazak won't, err, WILL be pleased to know that."

"Here it goes again..." griped Wicket, but the experienced hunter noticed that his lips were moving.

"The youngest of the Warricks can leave if he's not happy about this. Also, I hope that the lady aboard will be able to make it with her heavy load, though it appears that she's leaving the heaviest of baggage at home."

Nobody in the group said anything.

"What? Lighten up, all of you; I don't know if you were with or against Kazak on this matter! I was just testing you!"

"Yeah, right!" said Weechee, "Now that we passed the test, can you please not bring it up again?"

They finally moved on. Latara was walking next to Paploo and Wicket. Nobody seemed in the mood for talking as they were still sleepy; so, at some point, she initiated the conversation with the chief's nephew.

"So, mama's boy, what are we supposed to do? Other than prove ourselves?"

"So, great seductress, for now, we have to find traces of a carnivorous animal large enough for our goal. Then we will try and locate it. Once it's been spotted, there really are only two options. We either chase it or..."

"...wait until it comes out of wherever it's hiding?"

Paploo didn't expect Latara to finish his sentence. While he did not necessarily hold Kazak's opinion on girls, he didn't understand them all that much and this particular one has always been a puzzle to him. She would talk back, fight back. The more he thought of it, the surer he was that she belonged with this expedition. But how was he to admit it? How was he then to talk to her without further discrediting himself? All the things that used to bring him authority in his peer group were slowly fading away - he was no longer the tallest, he was not the only aspiring warrior, he was not even the only one with an overly protective parent.

The group scouted the forest around the village for a couple of hours and they didn't find anything. As if all the large animals have run away from somebody or something, as if it was too cold for them to come out. Usually, after a search this long, traces, droppings or carcasses of whatever a large predator ate would surface.

"Something is wrong here," said Weechee, mostly to himself, but the expedition leader overheard it.

"Why? Perhaps the animals have gone to the grasslands or even the desert. It would not have been the first time such a thing happens. When it's too cold, they may migrate, even if it's just for one moon."

"No. I cannot recall two expeditions in a row ever having failed. And I've been hunting for a long time. Weechee has the point!"

Romba sat down to elaborate on what he just said.

"My grandfather told me that many snows ago an evil creature chased all of the animals out of the forest and the only ones who could get close to them were the shamans. At that time, the village he hailed from had a shaman who eventually fell to the hands of the Night Spirit. That was one of the reasons they eventually abandoned their home in the mountains, separated and went to find new places to live. The said shaman might still be walking around and maybe he the ability to manupulate animals!"

A couple of hunters swallowed a lump. The most recent brush with anything related to the Night Spirit nearly banished them all to the Otherworld. This couldn't be it, it had to be something of this world, something one sees every day.

Wunka was quick to dismiss the speculation.

"You're just tired. We will take a break, eat something and then continue. Stemzee, light us a fire!"

Wicket sat down next to his brothers and friends. He did not want to admit it, but his feet were feeling numb from hours spent outside in cold. He opened his backpack and reached for the food Shodu prepared, but he felt something that he was sure he never packed. He pulled out the strange wheeled object he got from Teebo and Malani.

Paploo laughed and then bit his tongue, as the belt he and his mother made and the straps of the small bag were tangled up in between wheels of the object.

"Weechee? Widdle? Is this yet another of your stupid pranks?"

The two giggled.

"You'd better hide that, Wunka can hear anything and everything. Perhaps he would expel you from the hunt for bringing toys with you."

"Is that what you wanted? To get me out of my first big hunt on the day after my birthday?"

Wicket angrily turned around and headed for the nearby bushes, as his brothers were still giggling. Latara followed him.

"Wait! Perhaps I could help you."

"You? The resident snarker? You can only make me feel worse; my pride is dropping at the speed of a teek."

"I know, that's why I…"

" And what do you know about hurt pride?"

"If I didn't know about it, I wouldn't have been here right now. I ran away from everything – my family, my music, my crafts, the villagers who think I've courted them at your party…and my love interest!"

"Your love interest? Right…let me guess, is it a reflection of you in a puddle?"

"Stop being so hostile and listen to me for once!"

He stopped at the nearby stump and sat down. She continued.

"Wicket, you need to stop taking everything in your life for granted and expecting everybody to understand you. I know you're slightly younger than the rest of us, but still. You have a large, loving family. You get away with everything because of your reputation, as well as your talent to charm everybody. So, stop complaining!"

There was no answer. The short Ewok was fuming and clutching his fists.

"So?"

"So what? What is so unusual about it? I come from an important family, and I am a promising warrior! Aren't you getting what you want, too? Because you're a pretty girl?"

"Take that back! Or...are you jealous that I was never into you and fawning to you?"

"I'd rather have your grandmother be into me. My brother is right; you are nothing but a tart!"

Latara didn't need to know which of the brothers said that, or if any of them said such a thing at all. She slapped Wicket upside his face. He snarled and, as he was about to push her, Paploo stepped in between them.

"Stop that right now! We're freezing here, there is a big problem we have no solution for and the two of you are trying to skin each other alive!"

"Are you telling ME to stop? Tell that to this neckless Dulok dropping, not me! He called me a tart, just because I told him the way things really are and how privileged he is!"

"Don't trust her! She insulted me! And she thinks she can say anything she wants to, but I'm not Teebo, and I won't put up with that!"

The chief's nephew had no idea that he'd just opened a can of worms. This was the first time he experienced what the two of his more extraverted friends were like without the two others around.

And he didn't like it one bit.

"Let's go back. I said that the two of you needed to err, relieve yourselves, but I knew that I would find you arguing."

He brought the two back and the group sat down to eat in a clearing. The two older Warricks were still determined to give the beginners a hard time. Widdle wrapped the back of his hood into a braid and made bedroom eyes and pouts at everybody. Weechee grabbed a handful of snow and started adding snowballs to an imaginary belt of honour.

Paploo shook his head.

"Can you two come with me for a bit? I thought I saw something in that tree over there"

Weechee and Widdle shrugged and followed him.

"So…what did you see?"

"Nothing. There's something we need to talk about. You two make me sick. Can you stop wasting your time on Wicket and Latara and think about the hunt? They are being ridiculous, but this is their first time taking part!"

"First time requires a steady dose of hazing."

"No, it doesn't! Not in a situation like this."

"You are not leading this hunt, you cannot tell us what to do."

"That's true, but I know what you did at the party, and I could share that with everybody else. You would be in trouble. So, how about we make a deal: you stop hazing my friends and I don't tell anybody about the fermented berry drink and toy pranks."

"That's blackmail, Paploo."

"Chak, but you have no other choice. My cousin will trust me on this and I'm sure both Wicket and Latara would testify."

The two prankster brothers had to admit their defeat. They felt somewhat betrayed. This was not the Paploo they knew, the one who would argue with them, but also go out of his way to make things harder for others. What was happening to him?


End file.
